Your Friend Who Likes Games

Permission. Permission has been such a big word for me this year. It’s been a journey to break out of the self-imposed pressures of hosting a video game podcast and settling into a form of content that best fits my life and how I play video games. With the 1,000th thank you to the mindset of the folks at Into the Aether, I’ve been able to give myself permission to play, how Stephen of the show describes, “..games that speak to us.”

Simply stated, I’m happy I am reaching a point of following natural curiosities and giving myself permission to play games I want to play as long as they fit into my budget and means. Scoring sales like $15 for Final Fantasy Remake Intergrade and $28 for the last 3 Persona games provides open opportunity to dip into franchises I have not spent much time in without too much financial buy-in. If we strip away the pressure to be relevant and cover games from this year only, it opens up a giant world of new-to-me video games that will take my lifetime to play. And at least for the near future, I think that’s really exciting.

Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade

I’ll admit I’ve knocked some of my friends for placing value in what I call ‘movie games.’ Games like God of War (PS5), The Last of Us, etc. that are high-budget and feature a ton of cinematic features. Those friends will now have some ammo against my judgement, as I am falling quickly for Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade.

The announcement of Final Fantasy VII Revelation was one of many motivators in my ‘it’s about time I dig into this beloved franchise’ energy. I know Final Fantasy VII is a coveted story. I played a decent amount of the original game (a Nintendo Switch port) earlier this year, and I played and tried to understand the demo a bunch as a kid. I remember the cover of the game looking so cool and intriguing that I wanted to be into it and understand but I was a bit too young yet in the late 1990s. But I swear to you, in ways I haven’t quite discovered yet, this game’s story, world, and characters seem to just live within me. I have an indescribable familiarity with it. Maybe it’s simply the fact that the game has been soaked into video game culture for nearly 30 years?

One thing I’ve communicating to my younger self is that we get to play as the Cloud seen on the original box art, and that’s pretty amazing to take the time to realize. Barret feels so tough in the original, with hints of softness. I enjoy in Remake that we’re shown the indirect softness and the ‘trying to be tough’ a lot earlier and more obviously. He gets caught stripping his rugged exterior for a moment when he tells Cloud, “You had me worried for a moment… I mean… WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO!?” We connect to the characters differently here – before we imagined them more, and now they’re placed in our face in true cinematic fashion. Some folks vibe with that, some don’t. I like both.

The game does keep rolling along like a good movie with plenty of hands-on gameplay and roleplaying within. I actually really enjoy the ‘walking sim’ moments – the moments where the gang walks from one area to another and has a conversation on the way. A world like this can be so immersive that I desire to play along in order to keep the magic alive. I face characters when they’re talking ot me and keep the slow pace to not let my Cloud’s movement feel to video gamey and unnatural.

I found it comical too, early in the game when eco-terrorists Avalanche are suspected to have had something to do with the bombing of a make reactor, that you and your crew just walk about the public as if Cloud’s giant sword and Barret’s gun-for-an-arm are not at all questionable. Funny, but never took me out of the magic.

The story’s a bit more spelled out in this game and I presume within the games to follow as they’re stretching the first game into 3 games, but I think that’s good. The story is very clear early how Shinra is a corporation choosing to suck the life force out of the planet for profit and how Barret and his crew are very vocally against it. And while the depiction of The Slums was certainly impactful in the original game, the sheer size and scale of The Slums is unforgettable.

Not only that, but Remake wants you to settle into The Slums a bit longer. And although searching for 3 cats for a little girl is certainly filler, it provides important opportunity to be in The Slums for longer than a few lines of text. Walking around the area for a while, you overhear conversations had by the locals with various political and cultural implications. Some worry about the next ‘terrorist’ attack, others just yearn for things to stay the way they are, some are quietly vocal about how evil Shinra is. Some directly question whether the fight to save the planet is worth risking the lives of the locals that live in impacted explosion areas. Some dream of their children growing beyond the community their trapped in right now. This environment behavior, providing direct insight as to how the community of The Slums feel about all that is happening gave me motive to walk instead of run. I appreciate too the game’s stacked subtitles to the left of the screen as you pass by these various community conversations.

I don’t remember Roche at all from the original game, but I find him to be wildly campy and entertaining. The two interactions you have with him early in the game involving and moving-motorcyle battle and a traditional sword fight. Roche is so gay for Cloud and I absolutely love it. He yearns for battle with Cloud. Wants them to push each other to the limit 😉 He’ll certainly be back, and I’m looking forward to it. He’s mysterious yet in my headcannon, and I’m curious to learn more.

The takes on original scores are to be expected but let’s not take them for granted. Really epic and beautifully done. Another factor that communicates to my brain my indescribable familiarity with this game, and am happy each time I take a moment to recognize how amazing of a celebration this series of 3 games is and is going to be. In regards to music, I love too the quick but noticable mouthing of the battle victory tune that Barret spits toward a Shinra supporter after disengaging in an ethical argument.

This iteration of the game does a great job of keeping Cloud on the outside of Avalanche early. I remember feeling a bit of this too in the original, but Cloud is very clear from the start that he’s only here for the money and Barret makes sure big crew decisions happen outside of Cloud’s ear shot. The all changes quickly as Cloud becomes more involved and it’s nice to see that paired with Cloud shedding some armor and softening up. The eventual team camraderie is really contagious and connects my heart to them all and their goals.

Combat certainly grew on me – it was tough to click with at first. Eventually, I finally felt the cadence and weight of Cloud’s sword. Now I look forward to encounters to continue the practice and the dance. Not only that, but you get to switch between Cloud and your party members quickly and adopt their attacks and skills. That, too, took a bit of time to get used to but is another factor that I eventually found flow with. I like to main Cloud, but if anything’s in the air I’ll switch to Barret for his long range gun. I finally noticed it beneficial to switch characters when one character is taking time to perform a spell or give a potion so that I don’t wait to be control and keep moves productive. Combat really starts to sing when you keep switching confidently knowing what your next move is when the camera arrives. Beginning to string together attacks, spells, and healing to balance it all out feels really good when you can keep a flow without disruption.

The world is really beautiful and impressive. I’ve taken note of the lighting differences to communicate mood. Night time greens vs. invasive daytime white and light blue. Presentation is top notch. I continued to stop in awe while in The Slums. I kept stopping to look at the infrastructure that was in place. The massive scale of it all. The oppressive nature of such a large structure taking over and stripping those below of the life that sky can provide. It feels like a bad dream. It feels like something that shouldn’t happen. It’s a metaphor that unfortunately, nearly 30 years later, continues to be relevant.

Persona 3 Portable

Another series I’m permitting myself to try. I’ve heard plenty of praise of the Persona series from the likes of Chris Plante and the folks at Into the Aether – all people I respect and know we can share similar taste. The big intimidator found in the pitch of these games in that they’re naturally very long. Near 100 hours long. But getting started with Persona 3 Portable and logging a very fast 2.5 hours tells me that they’re games that are there for you for 100 hours. I’m sure parts of it can be a drag, or maybe even repetitive. But if you enjoy something for 100 hours, I bet that number holds less weight. We’ll see how I end up.

Like I stated earlier, I caught Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 5 Royal on sale for a total of $28. And instead of being intimidated by their scale or telling myself ‘I can’t afford 100 hours of a game right now,’ I gave 3 a try and I’m excited by it so far.

I love the clickable structure of the game. Yes, they’re very text heavy but in fast and short snippets that keep you clicking and engaged. Feels like I’m flipping through a good manga. You’re in the driver seat of the pace. 3 has top-down environments you navigate through in a very point-and-click fashion and the game mostly feels like a text-based, point and click roleplaying game. Though when you hit the dungeons, you get to walk around 3D spaces hunting for Shadows (enemies) and fight them turn-based style when you encounter them.

It’s the type of game that I find the title Portable to be fitting in. It’s a game I’m happy to have and chip away at. It’s basically shown me it’s structure thus far but I’m sure it has plenty of surprises.

I’m happy to have heard so much about Persona games to this point to kindof be aware of how they start and how I should behave. I know, in a basic notion, that I need to befriend folks and make connections during the day. The skills and connections you build through what you choose to participate in during the day will determine your effectiveness fighting Shadows at night.

Not only does the game feel great to click through, but I love how artistic and stylish the presentation is. From a glance, I assume each of the 3 titles hold this quality, as the sort-of Dreamcast-core graphic design and style stays prevalant.

The structure of Persona 3 Portable feels like a bare bones version of what I know a Persona game to be? From what I understand of Royal, the sort of clicking and roleplaying that I do here in 3 is something your character actually gets to walk around and do in the later games? At least I hope that is the case? Would be cool to play a game that sets the foundation of what’s to come and then 4 and 5 elaborate further? I’m sure it’s more complicated and detailed than just that. But the combination of how 3 feels now, also owning 4 and 5, and 6 being announced is exciting. Again, permission to play a beloved franchise and finding my own connection to it and journey with it feels exciting.

Early on yet, but promising. 🙂

Fields of Mistria

Fields of Mistria has been climbing up my GOTY list slowly. I did not expect to enjoy 1.0 as much as I am and it has been a very dependable comfort in my games loop. It’s another low-risk game I can easily put to sleep and pick back up at any time for as little or as long as I need.

I taken some reasonable breaks – ones that don’t last any longer than a week. With farm sims I can easily get burnt out from the need for self-motivation and crafting/finding certain items to bring to people in town can feel good one play session and feel like a chore the next. What I try to remind myself with a farm sim structure of game is that most of them are infinite – there will continue to more days to play and not everything needs done right now. If I can just allow myself to be in the world and do what I feel like doing that day, I enjoy myself more. Though, leaning too far into that direction and leave me feeling aimless, and when I don’t know what to do I feel like I’m wasting my time. Balance.

I haven’t written much yet about how the music in this game really works. It can give the flavor of an epic RPG at times and also the appropriate comfort of a farm sim. Mines music is fun, playful, but still adventurous. And they really slow things down to a calming twinkle in the Winter season. Yet another factor of the game that’s really quality.

Speaking of Winter… I think it may be the coziest I have felt in the game. I love the calming music, the snow plopped on top of everthing, and the snowing colors actually feel welcoming with very slight hints of pink, purple, and blue. It feels a little less cold and empty in comparison to Stardew Valley. I even found a wink toward the predecessor as I had a conversation with Celine – she exclaimed how thankful she was that certain crops in Mistria can still be grown in the Winter time, and that she wouldn’t know what to do with herself otherwise!

I had a really annoying hunt for the Faceted Rock Gem that I am happy is over. You need the item to move forward in a certain level of the mines, and I spent a bit more time than I wanted in the section they’re found in order to find it. I guess I ended up with a ton of stone in the process. And it wasn’t without reward. I won’t spoil what happens when you unlock that section of mines, but I will say the annoying hunt was worth it.

I would love a spell to teleport home. I don’t want to look up if that’s a thing in this game, I’d be surprised if it isn’t. But I’d say some of my least favorite time spent in game is that late-night commute back from the mines to home. I’d probably pin that one over my health-regen spell for daily use.

Fields of Mistria is the type of game that you get out of it what you put into it. It relies a bit on your self-motivation and goals. I really care about getting to the bottom of the mines and see what story implications lie there. But I also have interest in gifting people the right items in order to grow friendships. Obtaining and crafting those items can feel like a chore, but if I allow myself to get a groove and get into it, I will. Maybe some sessions I’ll get into collecting fish, or will discover an upgrade I’ve yet to achieve and work toward it. Basically what I’m saying is that I’m realizing you have to bring a bit of your own curiosity to this game. You have to bring a bit of your own goals and intentions. It’s not completely passive or mindless.

Maybe one day I’ll care enough to be good at decorating. Maybe. Maybe one day I’ll remember to ring the barn bells to signal my animals in before bed.

Maybe I’ll end this blog post here.

Thanks folks,

Your Friend Dillon